What do words like woodshop and woodwork bring to mind? For me, it’s always been the hand and power tools one uses that I think of most easily. For kids in some of my afterschool classes, that’s been pretty much the same case. When I asked Kindergartners and 1st and 2nd graders what words came…
What’s the best way to get kindergartners thinking about material engineers and what they do? One strategy that’s worked for me came in the form of a fable: The Three Little Pigs. After an introductory discussion of materials and material qualities (i.e. a spoon is made of metal; and metal is hard, shiny, and heavy),…
Primary school students in the Creativity Lab are learning what engineering bridges is all about. From kindergarten to 4th grade, kids are taking on the role of civil engineering. They’ve looked at models, they’ve compared and discussed designs, and now, they’re using different building materials to span vast distances. Grade by grade, they have been…
What’s a hackathon, really? Until fairly recently, I didn’t have much of a clue. Reading up on one taking place in Oakland, I figured the weekend-long event would be an opportunity for middle school students at Lighthouse’s Creativity Lab to be exposed to programming and software development. Explaining that to my 6th graders using words…
One of the Creativity Lab’s top priorities is to get our community comfortable with the idea of making things, and perhaps more importantly, to learn to be persistent when things get tough and to learn from mistakes made along the way, whatever the project. Take for example the challenges 2nd graders have faced trying to…
Our middle school students have teamed up with Hamilton + Aitken Architects to collaborate on a five-week-long project that has two major goals: first and foremost, we want to introduce our young designers to the concepts and practices that make up building and space design; secondly, students are working to generate ideas and input for…